Family of man slain by police releases funeral home report, alleges Wendell Allen was shot in the back

The attorney for the family of the 20-year-old unarmed man fatally shot last month by police said Wednesday that a recently obtained report from a funeral home notes that Wendell Allen had a hole in his back, which the family says is evidence that he was shot from behind. This would contradict the findings of the Orleans Parish coroner's office and the New Orleans Police Department, which have both said he was shot in the chest.

View full sizeRusty Costanza, The Times-PicayuneOn March 7, women grieve after a man was shot and killed by a New Orleans police officer in the 2600 block of Prentiss Avenue. The woman in the center said, 'They killed my baby.'

Coroner Frank Minyard stands by his office's determination that Allen was killed by a single police gunshot to his left front chest, with the bullet traveling through his thorax and organs and lodging up against the skin of his left back. A forensic pathologist later cut in an incision in Allen's back in order to remove the bullet, Minyard said.

Nonetheless, Attorney Lon Burns and members of the Allen family lobbed allegations of a police cover-up and otherwise cast aspersions Wednesday on the New Orleans Police Department, the city's mayor and independent police monitor.